Despite advances in surgical technique, preoperative patient evaluation and post-operative care, elective colorectal surgery carries a risk of mortality of approximately 2% and a morbidity rate ranging from 20-40%. Risk prediction is important for two reasons: it informs decision-making in individual cases before surgery (part of informed consent) and allows the comparison of actual outcome with predicted outcome. A number of scoring systems for assessing risk of death after surgery have been developed. They vary from simple scores based on a few variables to highly complex mathematical models requiring detailed data input. Recently, the Association Française de Chirurgie conducted a multicentre study to develop and validate a 4-item predictive score of mortality after colorectal resection which has good predictive value and is simple to use.